Canadian national team coach John Herdman wants squad to adopt a new style that focuses on ball control and possession.

Team Canada's Christine Sinclair takes a photo with young soccer fans as FIFA unveils the official emblem for the 2015 Women's World Cup soccer tournament during a ceremony in Vancouver on Friday.

By:Jim MorrisSpecial to the Star, Published on Sat Dec 15 2012

RICHMOND, B.C.—In his quest to make Canada a consistent contender on the international stage, coach John Herdman is looking to change the DNA of the national women’s soccer team.

Winning a bronze medal at this summer’s London Olympics proved the national team’s potential. But Herdman believes if the Canadian women want to be recognized as legitimate medal threats at the 2015 FIFA World Cup, which Canada will host, and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, there must be an adjustment in style and structure.

Included among the 27 women attending a national team year-end training and assessment camp in Vancouver are five players from the under-20 program and four from the under-17 program. From these nine Herdman hopes to begin finding players capable of fulfilling the promise shown in London.

“To some degree we have to go backwards to go forwards,” Herdman said during a workout at the Richmond Oval, site of long-track speed skating during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. “That’s a reality.

“We have a group of players that are getting a little bit older. We’ve got to bring some young players through.”

Besides new legs, Herdman plans on employing fresh tactics. He wants the team to adopt a new style that focuses on ball control and possession. Both France, who Canada beat for the bronze in London, and Japan, who lost the gold medal game to the U.S., play a similar style.

“They have more shots, they have more crosses, they enter our attacking parts of the pitch more than us,” Herdman said. “That’s because they are able to control the ball better.

“We are going to work very hard in the next three years to add control to the Canadian DNA. We are powerful, we’re precise in the counter attack. Of the teams that finished in the top four (at the Olympics) we took less crosses and shots, but we scored the most goals. We are very precise but we lack the control.”

Rubbing shoulders with the 12 members of the Olympic team attending the Vancouver camp are players like Ashley Lawrence, 17, a midfielder from Caledon East, Ont., and right-back Shelina Zadorsky, 20, of London, Ont.

Lawrence, captain of the U17 team, employs the style that Herdman envisions. She moves the ball with ease, sets up plays and hustles back on defence.

“It’s exciting for me to hear that’s the direction we are going to take,” said Lawrence, Soccer Canada’s U17 player of the year. “The top teams in the world, Barcelona, Real Madrid, that’s the style of soccer they play. It’s successful.

“I enjoy playing like that.”

Of the team that played in London, 60 per cent will be over 30 by 2015. That’s why Herdman wants to start integrating players like Zadorsky into the system.

“It’s an exciting challenge,” said Zadorsky, who plays at the University of Michigan. “He wants to give the young players a chance because they are the future.

“Hopefully we can step up to that challenge and add to our game.”

Christine Sinclair, who gained Canadian hero status after scoring three goals in Canada’s controversial semifinal loss to the U.S. at the Olympics, remembers first joining the national team along with players like Brittany Timko, Erin McLeod and Candace Chapman.

“We were bad,” the 29-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., said about the team at that time. “We were 18 years old and sort of were being thrown to the wolves. Because of that we achieved what we did this summer.

“I think this group (of young players) has it a little bit easier in that they have veterans that have been there before and achieved something special. We can help them.”

For years, money and resources were spent on the women’s team with limited results. Whenever the team looked to have gained ground it would suddenly slip back into mediocrity.

At the 2008 Games in Beijing, the first time the women qualified for an Olympics, Canada had a win, a draw and two losses. They lost to the U.S. in the quarter-finals to finish eighth.

The 2011 World Cup was a disaster with Canada losing all three games and being outscored 7-1. That led to Herdman taking over the team with just 10 months to prepare for the Olympics.

Canada’s best World Cup performance was in 2003 when the team lost to the U.S. in the third-place game. In five World Cup appearances the Canadian women have a record of four wins, 11 loses and three draws. They have been outscored 47-26.

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